Drs. Hamilton and Fricka “Next Generation” Surgeons
April 5th, 2013
Academy recognizes Joint Reconstruction physicians with leadership awards
Mount Vernon, VA – Orthopedics Today and DePuy Synthes recognized promising surgeons Drs. William Hamilton and Kevin Fricka with leadership awards in the field of total joint replacement at the 2013 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting. Recipient criteria included involvement in administrative and other leadership positions in their respective institutions and membership organizations as well as demonstrably, via outside interests, giving back to the communities in which they practice.
“We are proud to have such fine surgeons serving the interests of the Mount Vernon area and the patients from across the region who travel to us for joint replacements,” commented Barbara Doyle, CEO of Inova Mount Vernon Hospital. “Drs. Hamilton and Fricka prove committed to the health of the diverse community we serve, optimizing the health and well-being of each patient for whom we are privileged to care.”
Other criteria for receiving recognition are an interest in publishing and presenting clinical outcomes or original approaches to patient care in peer-reviewed journals and at meetings. In addition, membership in a leading society or group within the joint replacement community and being a good teacher or lecturer round out award criteria. All of the emerging leaders in orthopedics are board-certified orthopedic surgeons with 5 to 10 years of completed training who are recognized by peers as skilled joint replacement surgeons and innovators in orthopedic surgical processes or new industry concepts.
Media Contact: Rita Wakefield, 703-664-7109
Inova is a not-for-profit health care system located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, serving over two million people with over 1,700 licensed beds based in Northern Virginia. Inova consists of five hospitals including the area’s only Level 1 Trauma Center and Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care unit. Inova encompasses many health services including the nationally and internationally recognized Inova Heart and Vascular Institute (IHVI), Inova Translational Medicine Institute (ITMI) on genomics, Inova Neuroscience Institute and Inova Children’s Hospital. Inova’s mission is to improve the health of the diverse community it serves through excellence in patient care, education and research. More information and statistics about Inova is at www.inova.org.
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Inova Mount Veron Hospital Receives NICHE Designation
February 20th, 2013
Demonstrates Hospitals Commitment to Excellence in Elder Care
ALEXANDRIA, VA – Inova Mount Vernon Hospital recently earned the designation of being a NICHE hospital. NICHE, which stands for Nurses Improving Care for Health System Elders, is the only national designation indicating a hospital’s commitment to elder care excellence. Inova Mount Vernon Hospital is one of the first hospitals to receive the NICHE designation in Fairfax County.
“Through NICHE, the Inova Mount Vernon Hosptal clinicians, and staff engage in ongoing training and are able to share information, knowledge, and expertise with other NICHE hospitals,” said Barbara Doyle, Chief Executive Officer at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital. “With this designation, our patients can rest assured that they are receiving the best possible quality of care with the most up-to-date treatment options.”
The NICHE program assist the hospital in continuous improvement in geriatric nursing knowledge and patient outcomes, while enhancing work satisfaction in caring for older adults.
“With this designation, Inova Mount Vernon Hospital is now part of a community of resources provided by NICHE,” says Laura Shanks R.N. Medical Surgical Clinical Nurse Specialist “Because older people face greater challenges when hospitalized, it’s important to have access to resources that NICHE can provide, like educational programs, training, mentorships and resources for developing evidence-based protocols to improve the outcomes for our older adult patients.”
Through a contact of the NICHE program several nurses at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital have already received their American Geriatric Nursing Certification (ANCC) and many are pursing at this time.
About NICHE
NICHE nursing care models help hospitals improve care to better meet the needs of hospitalized older adult patients. These models have been implemented and tested at hospitals across the country and have been shown to be effective in improving clinical care and outcomes for elders during and following hospital admission.
Hospitals participating in NICHE report the following:
- Enhanced nursing knowledge and skills regarding treatment of common geriatric conditions
- Greater patient satisfaction
- Decreased length of stay for older adult patients
- Improved environmental design that enhances function and comfort for the aging population.
A program of the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University College of Nursing, NICHE has evolved into the only national geriatric care program for hospitals. It is currently comprised of nearly 300 hospitals across the country that share the goal to achieve patient-centered care for older adults.
Inova Health System is a not-for-profit health care system based in Northern Virginia that consists of hospitals and other health services, including emergency- and urgent-care centers, home care, nursing homes, mental health and blood donor services, and wellness classes. Governed by a voluntary board of community members, Inova’s mission is to improve the health of the diverse community it serves through excellence in patient care, education and research.
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Inova Hospitals Implement Visitation Limitations for Flu Season
January 11th, 2013
Curbing Influenza exposure top priority
FALLS CHURCH, VA – Due to the outbreak of influenza (flu) throughout Northern Virginia, effective January 11, 2013, all Inova hospitals have instituted temporary changes to their visitation policy. The following measures apply until further notice. Patient care companions are exempt.
- No visitors under the age of 18
- No visitors with any symptoms of influenza-like illness
- Two blocks of visiting hours – from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
- Visitors will be limited to two persons
- Visitors may be issued masks or other protective clothing for use when visiting
- For *Women’s and Children’s Units additional measures may apply.
- Patient care companions are exempt
*Please note Inova Women’s Hospital’s (at Inova Fairfax Medical Campus) visitation guidelines:
- Visitors will be limited to spouses/significant others and grandparents only.
- Spouses/significant others will be exempted from limits to visiting hours
- With the exception of Labor and Delivery, grandparent visitation hours: 11am-1pm and 6pm-8pm.
- All visitors may be screened for flu-like symptoms.
- High Risk Perinatal unit- additional measures will apply based on a case by case approval by physician.
“These temporary measures will help protect against influenza infection of the most vulnerable among us, including inpatients with compromised immune systems as well as our caregivers,” observed Dr. Loring Flint, Inova’s Chief Medical Officer. “We appreciate everyone’s consideration and cooperation as, together, we work to assure the health and safety of our community during this challenging flu season.”
For more information on Inova flu vaccination clinics, please visit “Inova Schedules Additional Flu Vaccination Clinics”
Inova is a not-for-profit healthcare system located in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, serving over two million people with over 1,700 licensed beds based in Northern Virginia. Inova consists of five hospitals including the area’s only Level 1 Trauma Center and Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care unit. Inova encompasses many health services including the nationally and internationally recognized Inova Heart and Vascular Institute (IHVI), Inova Translational Medicine Institute (ITMI) on genomics, Inova Neuroscience Institute and Inova Children’s Hospital. Inova’s mission is to improve the health of the diverse community it serves through excellence in patient care, education and research. More information and statistics about Inova is at www.inova.org.
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Inova Mount Vernon Hospital CEO Barbara Doyle Named Citizen of the Year
January 4th, 2013
Inova Mount Vernon Hospital CEO Barbara Doyle was named the Mount Vernon-Lee Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year at the chamber’s Holiday Business Awards Celebration.
In presenting the award, chamber chairman, Michael Gailliot noted “The turn-around at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital under Barbara’s leadership has been remarkable,” Gailliot told chamber members and guests at the Mount Vernon Country Club. He added that her goal has been to make IMVH “the best place to give and receive care.” IMVH has now added a new radiology department, broken ground for a $43 million expansion plan for private patient rooms, and recently announced plans to build a new 21,000 square foot emergency department. “Barbara’s guidance and unwavering commitment to the physicians who practice at the hospital, to the staff that work at the hospital, and to the volunteers who provide countless unselfish hours to the busy task of helping people get well, has made Inova Mount Vernon Hospital a destination for the local community and a regional magnet for important medical services,.” he said. By Doyle’s leadership example everyone at the hospital has learned that it is a community hospital focused on meeting health care needs and providing wellness education to keep members of the community healthy, he added.
Barbara is instrumental in expanding emergency health care services to the Lorton area with the new Lorton Healthplex and has continued to push the Inova Centers for Excellence, Inova Rehabilitation Center and Joint Replacement Center. “Barbara’s leadership and commitment to Inova Mount Vernon Hospital has changed the options and quality of health care in our community,” Gailliot said. Doyle, who attended the event with several Inova executives including President and COO Mark Stauder, was quick to give credit to others for the recent successes at IMVH. “It isn’t me, it’s all of us,” she said.
Photo and article compliments of Steve Hunt, Mount Vernon Voice.
Mount Vernon-Lee Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year Barbara Doyle, CEO of
Inova Board Announces Approval for $22.9 Million Emergency Department Addition at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital
December 18th, 2012
30 Treatment Bays and 5 Fast Track Areas to be included
FALLS CHURCH, VA – The Inova Governance Board has approved a state-of-the-art addition to the Emergency Department (ED) at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital. The new facility will be approximately 21,000 square feet with 30 treatment bays (of which 2 are resuscitation rooms and 4 are negative air rooms), 5 fast track bays, CT and Digital X-Ray and modern HVAC system. The proposed addition would create a new ED entrance which will separate emergency patient flow from other patient and visitor traffic.
“This is an exciting announcement for the Mount Vernon community, because it represents the creation of an emergency department that fully meets the needs of this growing community – not only today, but also into the future,” observed Knox Singleton, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Inova. “Our hospital staff and physicians are delighted with the Board’s approval of this addition.”
“Our goal is always to provide our community with the best possible quality care and this is another step toward that goal,” said Barbara Doyle, CEO Inova Mount Vernon Hospital and Senior Vice President, Inova.
Constructing an addition, like the planned ED, provides several advantages over renovating the existing ED, particularly around continuity of clinical services and minimization of patient inconvenience during construction. After certain components of the existing ED are moved into the newly constructed space, the project will free up 10,000 square feet of space for development of other clinical programs and services.
Construction for the Emergency Department addition is set for 2014. For more information, please call Rita Wakefield at 703-664-7109
Inova Health System is a not-for-profit health care system based in Northern Virginia that consists of hospitals and other health services, including emergency- and urgent-care centers, home care, nursing homes, mental health and blood donor services, and wellness classes. Governed by a voluntary board of community members, Inova’s mission is to improve the health of the diverse community it serves through excellence in patient care, education and research.
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Inova and Operation Walk Virginia Give the Gift of Walking
December 7th, 2012
Operation Walk Virginia, a non-profit group founded in 2006 and led by Gerard Engh, MD, Medical Director, Inova Joint Replacement Center, Inova Mount Vernon Hospital, will be providing free knee and hip replacement surgeries to ten local people that have no insurance and no ability to pay for their surgery.
We are proud that Inova physicians, nurses, physical therapists and others volunteer their expertise and time providing joint replacement surgeries in underserved communities.
Read more in WTOP’s story, “Local doctors give gift of walking”
Quality Matters – Inova’s 2011/2012 Quality Report
November 12th, 2012
First, do no harm – it’s a defining mandate for those who devote their lives to caring for others’ health. Recent studies have shown, however, that approximately 100,000 patients nationwide die unnecessarily in healthcare institutions. Several national organizations, including the Joint Commission, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Agency for Health Care Research in Quality (AHRQ) and the National Quality Forum, are a few that have responded by establishing standards of care and by giving healthcare organizations quality measurement tools.
Dr. Flint, CMO, Inova
At Inova, we have taken up the call to evaluate and improve our care at every level, using the best hospitals in the nation as our benchmarks. A component of this effort involves transparency with both internal and external stakeholders. This report is the first publication to share our progress with all members of the Inova community.
So, how did Inova do? Overall, we had a dramatic improvement in 2011 as compared to 2009 and 2010, and those improvements have continued in the first six months of 2012. We are continuing to accelerate our improvement by adopting nationally-accepted standardized best practices. This report will highlight those best practices, both in our quality results and in the success stories that follow.
One measure you will see in the following report is something we call “perfect care.” We use this term to indicate that a patient has received 100 percent of the steps in the process of care for a given condition. In other words, patients received the correct treatment and prophylaxis at the proper time and got the information and advice they needed to maintain and improve their health after discharge. Consistent, high-quality care – “perfect care” – is what drives us at Inova.
I hope this report inspires each of us at Inova to achieve even higher levels of excellence throughout the rest of 2012 as we continue to deliver leading edge, best in class healthcare throughout the region.
Download Inova’s 20122/2012 Quality Report – “Quality Matters”
Sincerely yours,
Loring Flint, Chief Medical Officer
Inova Health System
U.S. News Ranks Inova Fairfax Hospital # 1 in the Washington, DC Metro Area
July 18th, 2012
All Inova Hospitals Rank in top 20
FALLS CHURCH, VA – U.S. News & World Report today released its annual Best Hospitals rankings, citing Inova Fairfax Hospital as the top Washington, DC Metro hospital. All of Inova Health System’s five hospitals advanced to the top 20 with 4 in the top ten. This year’s Best Hospitals, the 23rd annual edition, showcases more than 720 of the nation’s roughly 5,000 hospitals. Fewer than 150 are nationally ranked in at least one of 16 medical specialties. The rest of the recognized hospitals met a standard of performance nearly as demanding in one or more specialties.
“Inova is reinventing healthcare, increasing value for our patients,” observed Knox Singleton, CEO of Inova Health System. “Our care model emphasizes collaboration between physician, patient and family underscoring wellness, education, research and care management as part of our commitment to improving the health of the community we serve.”
The hospital rankings, said U.S. News Health Rankings Editor Avery Comarow, are like a GPS-type aid to help steer patients to hospitals with strong skills in the procedures and medical conditions that present the biggest challenges. “All of these hospitals are the kinds of medical centers that should be on your list when you need the best care,” said Comarow. “They are where other hospitals send the toughest cases.”
The rankings were published by U.S. News in collaboration with RTI International, a research organization based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Highlights of the 2012-13 rankings will appear in the U.S. News Best Hospitals 2013 guidebook, to go on sale in August.
The complete rankings and methodology are available at http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals.
About U.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is a multi-platform publisher of news and analysis, which includes the digital-only U.S. News Weekly magazine, www.usnews.com, and www.rankingsandreviews.com. Focusing on Health, Personal Finance, Education, Travel, Cars, and Public Service/Opinion, U.S. News has earned a reputation as the leading provider of service news and information that improves the quality of life of its readers. U.S. News & World Report’s signature franchise includes its News You Can Use® brand of journalism and its annual “Best” series of consumer web guides and publications that include rankings of colleges, graduate schools, hospitals, mutual funds, health plans, and more.
Inova Health System is a not-for-profit health care system based in Northern Virginia that consists of hospitals and other health services, including emergency- and urgent-care centers, home care, nursing homes, mental health and blood donor services, and wellness classes. Governed by a voluntary board of community members, Inova’s mission is to improve the health of the diverse community it serves through excellence in patient care, education and research.
Power Restored at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital
May 22nd, 2012
Inova Mount Vernon Hospital experienced a power outage yesterday, May 21, that was reported in The Washington Post blog.
As a follow-up to the story, Inova Mount Vernon Hospital’s staff would like to commend the extraordinary efforts of Dominion Virginia Power to repair a failed power transformer, caused by a faulty hospital transfer switch. We regret the inconvenience to our patients but thank the DVP repair crew members who worked tirelessly to reestablish power in such a timely manner allowing us to continue our mission of patient care. DVP exhibited the highest possible standards of professionalism, commitment and dedication. They exemplified the best expectations for what a public utility should be.
Inova Health System Joint Replacement Patient Care Operations Team Named in Orthopedics Today
May 25th, 2011
Research Highlights Social Support Can Reduce Stress and Improve Healing During Joint Replacement Process
Alexandria, VA—Research performed by the Inova Joint Replacement Patient Care Operations Team was recently highlighted in May 2010 issue of Orthopedics Today.
This team, comprised of joint replacement clinical managers from Inova hospitals, spearheaded research to observe the connection between a strong social support system for joint replacement patients and those who do not have a social system.
Based on nearly 1700 observations at Inova hospitals, the study determined that there is a direct connection between social relationships and patient preparation, decreased anxiety, stress reduction and healing.
This research may help other hospitals encourage a patient’s loved ones to participate in the pre and post surgery process or develop options to increase social outreach during the joint replacement process.
For more information about this study visit inova.org/hipsandknees.
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